Thursday, 30 April 2015

So where on earth did April go.....with a flash we find ourselves at the last day of the month. April has been a very creative month for me and I have found myself using my tiny garden for lots of my art inspiration. Golden daffodils and fiery tulips have all found their ways into my art. We had very few April showers and the warm sunshine has jump started Mother Nature with a bang.
I did not have much arty time this week so when I eventually found myself an hour of play time in my studio I reached for my journal and decided to have some fun with some sprays. There are some great challenges including the one at Paperartsy using sprays that I wanted to join in with. I also wanted to play with my stencils and also link up with my buddy Brenda who is sharing her visual journal pages over on her blog here. I got out my sprays, looked out to my garden and sat down to think.

I wanted to use my lovely photo again of my brother and I in our family garden as children.
It's funny how you always remember sunny days and flowers.

I also wanted to add a little piece of the pretty Easter wrapping paper which was sitting on my desk. I added some paper strips.

I also had a second grunge paste piece flower piece which I made for this post. I decided to cut around it and include it in my journal pages. I used a couple of stencils to add some texture paste as well.

It was then time to get inky. I swooshed and spritzed my sprays. Inpsired by my lovely green lawn I added green and yellow from my daffs,

and just kept adding and mixing until I was happy with the result. I also added some metallic ink too as a splatter.
So here is my last piece of artwork for April.

I used gold embossing powder on the chipboard sentiment and then added some dabs of white paint and blended it in .

Lots and lots of spray and textures. Such great inky fun in my studio.

We have another welcome bank holiday weekend looming. Although the temperature is much lower than it was I'm still hoping to get out in the garden to do some tidying up. My lawn had its first cut recently and it needs another.
Enjoy the weekend, however you spend it and I hope you get some time to be inspired by the May flowers. Thanks so much for visiting me and taking the time to say hello.

Monday, 27 April 2015

Last autumn I planted up my pots with some spring bulbs...daffodils and tulips and over the last 2 weeks my parrot tulips have come into flower with a fanfare.

How vibrant and stunning they are and they bring such rich fiery colour to my garden.

First they pushed up with green naivety, at this stage there is no indication of the flash of colour which will develop. I took this series of photos over 4 or 5 days

The first hint of colour

a little more

and finally the fire emerges

These pots are on my patio and I can see them from the kitchen window

and also from my studio

I had a hour or so creative time and I wanted to enter some challenges so I decided to use them as my inspiration for some journal pages. I also wanted to link up with Brenda of Bumblebees and Butterflies visual journal pages which are here.

I found my faithful tulip stamp (one day I want to find a big daffodil stamp too) and stamped some on some book pages which I then coloured with Distress inks

I also scribbled some flowers and coloured those too.
I got out my distress ink pads to match the colours of my tulips

and blended them in my journal pages until I was happy with the colours. I added a little spritz of water for some texture.

Next I reached for 3 different stencils and blended these on too.

I added a Tim Holtz quote and his hedgerow stamp to the corner and then finished off my pages.

Here they are...

I love how vivid and bold they are. I also wanted to keep the memory of these extraordinary flowers preserved not only by the photos here in Jane's Journal but also in my creative journal too.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend? Our weather did cool down so the planned trip to National Trust Gardens turned into a National Trust house but we still had a great time on Sunday. Did you see the last Poldark of the series...what a cliffhanger, I can't wait to see the next series. This has been compulsive Sunday evening viewing for the last 7 weeks, Sunday nights won't be quite the same!

OK must dash, off to dancing..it's the romantic Rumba we're learning for the next 3 weeks, real Poldark dancing then ;0)

Saturday, 25 April 2015

Over the last 6 months I have seen lots of people using Brusho crystals in their crafting. I love to challenge myself to embrace new products and techniques so I started having a look around on the Internet. However whilst investigating Brushos I also came across another product called Bister. This appears to be an old product. There appear to be very people who are using it in this country and after a lot of detective work I bought some.

I promised I would come back at some point to share the process.... so here it is......
The pigments are activated by water and when they arrived I tried out all the different colours on sheets of watercolour paper just to see how they react. I just sprinkled on the pigment and added a little spritz of water. I love the way the colours blend out. Very little is needed to make some very interesting effects,

This is how I coloured the white paper flowers I used above

I just kept added sprinkles until I was happy with the result. I also played with all the colours making test sheets.

I have had another play today as I wanted to use the Visible Image "Bite Me" stamp I won last weekend (thanks Helen and Mark x). I used red bister first with a spritz of water.

I then stamped my VI rose stamp

I then went back over the roses with some yellow bister keeping the centre fairly clear.

I didn't have time to photograph the rest as I had to work quickly with some embossing powders on Archival ink but this is the finished result....I really had fun with my Bite me stamp

OK it's nearly dinner time here so time to tidy my studio for the night. We're off out tomorrow meeting friends at a National Trust so we have our finger crossed that it stays dry.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for popping by.

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Last weekend was time spent with Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy on Saturday and then on Sunday a Prima workshop. Such a great combo!

Saturday was the best day for weather which was very fortunate so we enjoyed a country walk to a lovely bistro by the sea for a drink and snack in the sunshine. We met these 2 souls on the way who obliged me with a photograph.

Daisy had fallen asleep in her buggy at this point so missed saying hello to them.

once we reached the coast we walked along to the Marina.

to the new Bistro which has opened there with a pretty garden. We found some shade for Daisy to snooze

whilst we enjoyed a drink and cake

watched over by this little fellow

who sung his little heart out to us

It was such a pretty setting in the spring sunshine. All the leaves are coming out on the trees too.

This provided the perfect colour inspiration for my workshop I went to on Sunday.

This was the sample below which we were shown as an example.

We were given free reign with colour choices and stencil shapes.

I decided to use photo of Daisy and I which was taken over my birthday weekend earlier this month.We were shown how to add texture to our canvas and added micra sprays. I went for green and yellow as there was no blue spray available. I managed to make some blue where my yellow and green combined. I love the way my mists of paint flare out.

I thought about where I wanted to put my photo and then removed it to add some more textures and details.

These were the other projects from the ladies on my table. It's always so interesting how different everyone else's looks.

I built up the layers...such messy fun. I added micro beads and some soft gel, which I coloured blue with acrylic paint, through a stencil, to remind me of that blue sky and sea from the day before. I made up the green paste by adding green micra powder.

We even drew scibbly flowers which we cut out and added

I have put the finishing touched to my canvas during this week. So would you like to see my finished canvas...................?

Here it is

and some close ups

lots of stenciling

an arty shot

and one final one.

This is the first canvas (it measures 10 x 10") I have ever made. I must admit I am really pleased with how it turned out and I am going to hang it in my garden studio. It will make me smile and think of little Daisy Jane whenever I look at it.

I would like to enter my mixed media canvas into the following challenges;

Another week has nearly flown by and I noticed that next week is the last in April...wow how did that happen. Thanks for visiting me here and for the enthusiastic comments you leave. I really do appreciate them, I am so enjoying my creative journey. I want to try share some more of my jewellery and crochet projects too soon. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day! Some clouds have reappeared today taking up some of the clear blue sky. We are getting some cooler temperatures but hey, we have only just started spring. The recent taste of summer we have enjoyed has been such a bonus.

108 High St, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 3AE Gorgeous painting is by in house artist Karen Baker

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About Me

Welcome to Jane's Journal. Having worked for the NHS as a physiotherapist for 34 years I now follow a crafting life selling my handmade cards in Dotty's, a local vintage tea room. My passions are as a papercrafter, silversmith, jewellery maker, and occasional cake decorator. I am a Design Team Member for Country View Crafts, Visible Image and STAMPlorations. I enjoy occasional Guest Designing for other stamp companies/card challenges. My work has been published and appeared on TV. I am also a keen photographer and gardener.
I am the wife of a very dear husband and have 2 wonderful grown up children (but always my babies to me). Our lives have been blessed by the arrival of our 2 darling grandchildren; Daisy Jane, in 2013 and Jack in 2017. We also have a very special cat called Billy who shares our home.
My blog is written to share my hobbies, crafts and gardening and to create a journal I can look back on. Thanks for visiting me here and watching my creative journey.
Please don't be shy - do leave a comment and say hello, it's great to realise that I'm not rambling to myself but even if you don't wish to just pull up a chair, make yourself comfy and have a read.
Jane x